Single Ladies Trumps Show Choir
by Always With Amy
Summary: When it comes to one particular dance, Jesse's willing to swallow his pride and ask a few New Directions for help. - Jesse/Tina/Brittany/Kurt friendship; St. Hummel.
1. Chapter 1

Jesse St. James never needs help when it comes to performing. Even backup singers and dancers are generally unnecessary, considering how easy it would be for him to carry a show all on his own.

But for some reason, there's _one _song that he just can't get down. Despite all his best efforts, there is _one _song whose iconic dance he cannot seem to master, even with the almost unhealthy amount of time he's spent _studying it_, and _rehearsing it_, and even _taking lessons for it._ (Lessons from Giselle, anyway; she at least knows the full extent of his talent, and more importantly, his rage, so she keeps the snarky comments to a minimum for fear of backlash.)

And if there's one thing that Jesse St. James is – aside from the obvious answers of multitalented, suave, dashing, and clever – it's _tenacious_. And so, it was with a heavy heart and the bitter taste of his swallowed pride in his mouth that he contacted several people whose names he had never completely learned (they were irrelevant), and who he had hoped he would never have to see again (because it's not like their paths would ever cross; he was on the road to _greatness_, after all).

"Hello?" the first voice on the other end asks, sounding not quite as timid as Jesse recalls, but more so _confused_. Understandably so, Jesse will submit, although he's more than a little disappointed that the small Asian girl from McKinley has seemingly grown a backbone as of late.

Scribbling "Intimidation" off the notepad of coercive means in front of him, Jesse smiles his most charming smile into the phone (for no reason other than simply getting better into character) and greets amiably, "Tina-Cohen Chang?"

There's a slight pause, which Jesse assumes is because of the girl identifying his voice – she must, of course, since Jesse can't see how _anyone _would be able to forget his smooth tones – before the female replies cautiously, "Who is this?"

Her apparent density – or maybe an automatically uncertain demeanor - is reassuring, and Jesse underlines "Outwit" and "Endear" on his list with a smug grin. "Jesse – St. James. We were in the William McKinley High School Glee Club together for a short period, before I transferred back to Carmel High, just in time to win my third consecutive Regionals Championship with Vocal Adrenaline before departing to UCLA?" he introduces politely, while absentmindedly letting himself wonder if what he did was as douchey as it sounds when he says it out loud.

It must have been, because Tina's glare is practically tangible, even over the phone, and Jesse begins to think that his plan might not be as foolproof and easily taken care of as he'd anticipated. "Yeah, I remember. You broke Rachel's heart, and gave her nightmares for months about vengeful mother hens," Tina spits.

Jesse cringes. He'd almost managed to repress all of those memories of his less-flattering moment towards the soprano he'd allowed himself to fall in love with, against Shelby's warnings for him not to, and now – hearing them said with such venom from one of Rachel's…perhaps not _friends_, but at least one of her _teammates_ – he thinks that maybe what he did really _was _that douchey.

That makes things much more difficult indeed. He almost feels the need to clear his throat before answering – but he _doesn't_, because that's a universal sign of nervousness, and Jesse St. James does _not _get nervous – but instead says, "Yes, that was me. I really do regret hurting her like that, but it had to be done. Vocal Adrenaline was my Glee Club, through and through – rather like my family, considering that I saw them more often than I saw my parents." Tina makes some sort of noise at this point – Jesse thinks that it's a sympathetic noise, which frustrates him only for a moment, before he reminds himself of the point of the phone call, and doesn't go off on her for the compassion he _does not need_. "Wouldn't you do anything for your Glee family?" he adds, going on a hunch he has that the girl's terrifying outer appearance is a front for her oversensitive nature.

Tina's silent for a moment, before asking quietly, "Why are you calling me?"

Jesse resists the urge to pump his fist into the air at the sound of victory in Tina's _willing _and _understanding _tone, and instead just smirks. "I was hoping that you could help me with something."

_**xox**_

The second person is more difficult to get in contact with, Jesse finds as he tries the number he still has saved in his contacts from his time with New Directions (Rachel had made a point of making sure that everyone had everyone else's phone numbers, in case of musical emergencies) for a third time, only to yield the same result – an instant voicemail redirection, indicating that the phone is off.

Facebook is, naturally, the next logical place to look, and Jesse wastes no time in pulling up the profile of his target – only to find it filled with incoherent wall post ramblings about cats, dolphins, birds, ducks, and elf slaves. The post reading "how do you turn on a computer?" is enough to make Jesse think that Facebook was a really bad idea, and he closes out the browser with a final disturbed glance at the blonde girl's profile picture – which shows her wearing a large brown sack of sorts, with red splotches painted on her face while she holds out an orange jack o'lantern basket.

His extensive preparation having never failed him, Jesse turns to Plan C, and again picks up his cell phone. This time, his call is answered - on the second ring – and he can't help but smile at the voice on the other end, simply because it's exactly the same as he remembers it to be.

"If this is someone else wanting to tell me that I'm going to burn in Hell, you forgot to dial star-six-seven, and I can now take your phone number, find you, and sue your ass with the help of Misters Hiram and Leroy Berry," the countertenor voice says, sounding bored, and actually pulling a sort of sorrow from Jesse's heart as he realizes that the particular type of phone call depicted must happen regularly, for that to be the singer's default greeting.

"I'm not going to tell you that at all; I'm very sensitive to the LGBT cause," Jesse responds pleasantly enough, while trying not to laugh at the gasp that he hears on the other end. "In fact, I –"

Kurt cuts Jesse off very abruptly, and very rudely, and Jesse frowns and wishes that he didn't need the boy's help, so that he could fully express his irritation at being interrupted. "_Jesse St. James_?" Kurt demands, an action which _does _lessen Jesse's frustrations, considering the way that the other male recognizes his voice without hesitation, or doubt – the questioning lilt at the end of the declaration was obviously added for the sake of adding it, as Kurt doesn't even let Jesse answer before letting in, in a very Rachel-esque way. (Which makes Jesse wonder for a moment if the two divas have finally realized that they're actually quite similar, and have allied themselves with one another.)

"Listen up, St. Douche," (the term of address makes Jesse wonder if Kurt's managed to ally himself with the Puckerman character, as well, as it's a very delinquent-friendly word that Jesse's startled to hear the admittedly enchanting brunette use) "Whatever you're going to try and pull, don't. I don't know anything about the New Directions' or the Warblers' set-lists, or performance set-ups, or anything, so I can't be of any help to you."

The statement's enough for Jesse to raise an eyebrow, as he hadn't been aware that Kurt had transferred to the quote-unquotable prestigious Dalton Academy, home of the (incredibly bland) Warblers, whom Vocal Adrenaline had beaten at Sectionals four years in a row. Then again, his UCLA activities had kept him fairly busy, and it was true that he hadn't had much time to peruse the Ohio Show Choir discussion forums like he used to.

"I'm not going to try anything," he says in his best attempt at sincerity. "I just needed to know how I could get in contact with the blonde cheerleader from New Directions – not the pregnant hussy, the daft bimbo," he clarifies, as Kurt makes some sort of irritated noise that sounds rather like a chipmunk.

Jesse is made _absolutely positive _that Kurt and Rachel are now some sort of unstoppable diva tag-team by the way that Kurt doesn't waste a moment, before responding sharply, "_Firstly_, they're not a hussy or a bimbo. _Secondly_, she's not daft, either, she's just not as generically intelligent as most other people." (Jesse could laugh at the way that Kurt talks about the girls so protectively – almost like Jesse insulted Kurt's girlfriends, which he supposes he did, in a way – but decides not to, as he isn't interested in unleashing any more of the very prominent bitchy side Kurt has.) "_Thirdly_, their names are _Quinn Fabray _and _Brittany Pierce_. _Fourthly_, what do you need Brittany for? And _fifthly_, _why _the _hell _would I help you after what you did last year?"

Rolling his eyes, Jesse begins with the standard fallback of "I'm sorry," and takes pride in the way that Kurt makes an interested noise that Jesse can only assume means he should continue. "I don't need her help with anything Glee Club related; I just need her assistance with a dance number. I remember that she and Tina were the best – female - modern dancers that New Directions had."

Kurt makes the intrigued noise again, though this time it has more of an _Is that so? Do tell_ inflection, as opposed to the prior, slightly sarcastic _Oh __**really**__?_ one. Jesse sighs when Kurt remains silent, and it becomes apparent that he's not going to be of any aid whatsoever unless Jesse tells him specifically what dance number it is that he isn't able to tackle on his own.

"You're familiar with Beyonce, I assume?" Jesse says finally, his voice laced with loathing and a small amount of _appreciation _for the way that Kurt's managed to make him admit his failure to him, without doing a damn thing.

Of course Kurt's familiar with the artist, and he acknowledges as much with an _Mmhm _that sounds highly obscene – which Jesse assures himself is only because he hasn't had time to "get any" in an uncharacteristically long time, due to his aggravation with the dance.

Kurt seems to be very familiar with the artist, as a moment later, he gasps again – sounding even _more _obscene, making Jesse hope to whatever god may be out there that the boy's not in the midst of receiving a blowjob or something equally inappropriate while he's on the phone – before squealing, "_Oh my Gaga_. It's "Single Ladies," isn't it?"

Jesse's stunned silence must be answer enough, as Kurt makes a point of laughing in clear entertainment at Jesse's plight, and continues to do so for several minutes. Several minutes during which Jesse feels the burning shame of failure and utter embarrassment, and begins to question whether "Single Ladies" is worth all the stress he's being put under.

He quickly finds the answer to be _absolutely_, not so much because of the number itself, but because of the principle of the matter – Jesse St. James is _Jesse St. James_, and he can't let himself be bested by a _pop song_.

When Kurt finally settles, the countertenor's grin is still audible, and Jesse purses his lips in annoyance. "I'll help you, St. James, under one condition."

Jesse's reply of, "Anything," comes too hastily, and is too eager, and the college man chastises himself immediately for showing just how desperate he is for the help. Kurt seems to notice his desperation, as he makes yet another thoughtful noise – this one more along the lines of _Oh, so __**that's **__how it is_ – before specifying, "I want to join. I realize that it throws off the entire dynamic of the number, but I do have a long history with "Single Ladies," and I've missed it a lot."

The first instinct Jesse has is to laugh, because the condition is incredibly simple – he's not concerned about the _dynamic_ at this point, so much as he is _just mastering the damn thing_ – and because Kurt's wasted the opportunity he had, which could have easily been used to extort sexual favors from an older, handsome male experienced in sexual relations of the hetero and homosexual natures.

Jesse's second instinct is _most certainly __**not **_to be offended and slightly disappointed that Kurt didn't request sexual favors, and to clarify incredulously, "_That's it_?"

Such a second instinct seems to offend Kurt, who makes a noise that sounds suspiciously sulky before mumbling, "The Warblers don't exactly _dance_…they certainly wouldn't be able to take on Beyonce…they're – we're – more the bob in pace type…"

Shaking his head, Jesse interrupts, "Fine, whatever. And you'll help me with Quinn?"

"Brittany," Kurt corrects dryly, as Jesse pictures the brunette rolling his eyes and tapping his fingers along the side of his phone in exasperation.

"Brittany," Jesse amends civilly, simply to appease the other boy.

Appeased he seems, as Kurt proceeds to respond, "I'll get in touch with her for you. Do you have a specific time and place in mind?"

Jesse doesn't bother trying to keep the sound of his triumphant grin out of his voice as he answers, "The April Rhodes Civic Pavilion, this Saturday at 10 AM sharp." Kurt says nothing instantly to argue the point, and Jesse wastes no time in hanging up, and smiling broadly up at his ceiling.

_**xox**_

Three days later, Jesse departs from his parent's empty house in Ohio for McKinley High School, and blasts the Beyonce and Jay-Z playlist of his iPod all the while.

When he arrives, at a prompt 9:58, he sees that Tina's already there, and is stretching on the stage while wearing a very appropriate black leotard. She greets him with a wary glance, a nod, and a curt, "Jesse." He responds with a showface and a cheerful, "Good morning, Miss Cohen-Chang."

Four minutes later, Kurt arrives, pulling Brittany behind him as the girl asks something curious about where she is, and how it can't _possibly _be the school – even though it really looks like it – because it's Saturday; even she knows that. Kurt just kisses her cheek lovingly as he guides her towards Tina – who greets the blonde girl with an even warier look, unexpectedly enough, and immediately goes back to stretching. Brittany soon begins following suit, after slipping off her Cheerios jacket to reveal a matching leotard.

"I'm sorry, is your unitard _sparkling_?" is the first thing Jesse hears coming out of his mouth as Kurt approaches him, looking very…Kurt in what Jesse can see is indeed a sequined black unitard.

Kurt rolls his eyes, and rests a very bitchy hand on his hip before replying, "They wick sweat from the body, and it's similar to the costume for the original video." The once-over that he gives Jesse's outfit – though it seems more directed to Jesse, rather than the generic black garments from his ballet classes – is disdainful, and entirely unsurprising. (Though it is _slightly _unnerving, for reasons that Jesse can't begin to fathom, considering that _he's Jesse St. James_.)

"Yours isn't too bad," Kurt approves, flushing a slight pink color as he quickly turns away and goes towards the other girls, who begin to stand up and exchange giddy smiles with the boy who holds the iPod dock.

"Ready, St. James?" Kurt calls over his shoulder, after setting said dock down on the piano and taking up a place behind the two girls, leaving Jesse the space in the front center. (As he should have, as Jesse St. James is backup for _no one_.)

_**xox**_

Ten hours later, nine of which consisted of drilling the routine _over and over and over_, and the final one being a short lunch break (during which time the four of them went out to the only decent restaurant in Lima, BreadstiX, for lunch, and actually chatted _friendlily _with one another), Jesse considers himself to have finally mastered the art of "Single Ladies."

"You're really good, actually," Tina assures him with a kind smile as she pats his arm, before picking up her black duffel bag and draping it over her shoulder.

Brittany, who holds Kurt's hand fondly as she and he stand in the doorway, nods eagerly, and adds, "Yeah, you're way better than Finn. He was kinda gross."

Kurt and Tina share stifled giggles at the memory – to which Jesse can only stare, and try to think of any situation in which _Finn Hudson _would let himself be witnessed dancing to _any _Beyonce song, much less the iconic "Put a Ring On It."

"It wasn't as painful a day as it could have been," Kurt submits with a warm expression, despite speaking with a deceivingly snarky inflection. Jesse responds with a slight – sincere - chuckle of his own, and a silence falls over the auditorium for a brief and entirely-too-uncomfortable moment.

"Do you have a hotel room or something?" Kurt inquires in what is probably innocent curiosity, though it comes off a bit pushy and irritating as the male uses his free hand to take up Tina's. The Asian girl standing next to Kurt watches Jesse awkwardly, awaiting his answer with a concerned expression consisting of her biting her lower lip.

Jesse briefly considers falsely confirming as much, for the sake of avoiding receiving further unwarranted and unwanted pity from the empathetic dark-haired girl who had seemed to sincerely care when he'd talked of his parents, but decides instead to give honesty a try – after all, he _is _a fantastic personality, without ever having to fake it. "No," he admits as casually as he can. "My parents are in Bermuda at the moment, but I still have my key to the house."

His worries about arousing sympathy are revealed to be spot-on, as Tina proceeds to make a sort of cooing _Aw _noise, and even Brittany looks as though she understands what he said about his situation as she makes a point of gripping Kurt's hand tighter.

Frowning lightly, though it doesn't actually seem to be out of distaste or loathing, Kurt asks quietly, "So you'll be all alone?" Jesse gives a short, intended-to-be flippant nod, but he reasons that it must have actually looked pitiful, as Kurt also bites his lip and gives Jesse a sad kind of longing look – the type that people give to homeless puppies on ASPCA adverts.

Kurt looks out the doorway to the parking lot, where his "baby" – a very nice Navigator, to rival the beauty of Jesse's own Range Rover – is parked and waiting. He seems to be considering something very intently, and Jesse doesn't dare to think about what it is that the brunette's considering, for fear of feeling strangely _disappointed _should he be wrong.

In the end, it turns out that his fears of feeling disappointed were unnecessary, as Kurt finally speaks up, "My dad and Carole –my stepmother – are away for the weekend, so Tee and Britt are going to spend the night tonight. Feel like tagging along? We could always use a tenor for karaoke, preferably one that doesn't only want to do 80's rock." The last, teasing statement is transparently meant to make Jesse feel like he's not being invited out of mercy, and it almost works.

Except it doesn't, because Jesse St. James knows that old trick. But instead of feeling indignant and affronted, like he usually would, he actually feels _touched_. And before he can stop himself (or before he can wonder what other tenor hangs out with Kurt and chooses 80's rock), he finds himself smiling, and accepting with a _friendly_, "All right – but I have to caution you, I have horrible bed head in the morning."

And instead of giving uncomfortable smiles that say they _really _don't want Jesse there, Tina, Kurt, and Brittany all actually smile _affectionately _at him, and Brittany extends a tender hand to him. He hesitates a moment before taking it, because _he's still that douche who made them lose Sectionals last year_.

But as Tina leads their human chain outside, and Kurt begins to warn that "Britt's amazing at DDR – _amazing_; I still can't beat _any _of her scores," Jesse thinks that _maybe, _show choir doesn't matter as much as he's always thought that it does. That _maybe_, there are more important things in the world.

Like "Single Ladies."

_**xoxox**_

**AN: **So I've had writer's block lately, and decided to draw slips of paper from a hat to try and stimulate my brain. So blame the hat for this, because I ended up drawing Jesse, Brittany, and Tina. (It was either this, or Quinn, Flint, and Sue, anyway.)

**AN (2): **I had to slip some St. Hummel in there, because it's terribly underrated. (Read: pimping!)

**AN (3): **I know a whole of nothing about the technical aspects of music, so I have no idea if Groffles and Monteith are actually. I vaguely recall Rachel helping Finn in one episode, and saying that he hit a note that was like a Holy Grail for tenors…?

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Except for weird slips of paper and an olive green pageboy cap.


	2. Chapter 2

Jesse excels at many things, and one of those things happens to be recognizing when a situation has entered a new stage of awkward. His specific scale of grading social discomfort is very complex – he uses a point system – and has taken a lifetime to completely categorize, but has proven on more than one occasion to be absolutely invaluable. (Particularly stage nine, the worst of them all – the official def-con red of uneasy social altercations: _I might be getting hit now_.)

And as Finn Hudson glares down at him in the most menacing way that the lug of a boy can (which isn't very; he actually looks more like he's going to burst into tears at any moment, Jesse finds himself thinking for a brief and dangerous moment), Jesse realizes that he has again reached def-con red, and that the chance of finding a fist in his face is very, very high.

Before Finn can do as much (Jesse resists the urge to say that the delayed reaction is because it takes a while for commands to get from Finn's head to his limbs; he has a feeling that he shouldn't be angering the giant considering the situation), Kurt deftly steps between the two and glowers at Finn in a very intimidating fashion.

And despite the laughableness of it all, the look actually seems to _work_ on the boy, who ducks his head in a sort of embarrassment and shuffles out of the doorway he's been blocking for the past two minutes. Kurt just makes a haughty _Hmph _of a noise as he pulls Tina, who pulls Brittany, inside – with Jesse following very closely behind, reasoning that Finn's ideas of being a "good guy" would prevent him from hitting Jesse while in a position where he could also end up hitting a girl.

"I thought you were going to be out with Puck tonight?" Kurt says in an annoyed tone of curiosity while glancing into one room, then another. Jesse momentarily wonders just how long Kurt's been at Dalton, because it almost seems like the boy's forgotten his way around his own home – though the moment ends quickly, when he notices a _very _recent looking picture of Kurt, Finn, a red-haired woman Jesse can only assume to be the earlier-mentioned stepmother, and a bald-headed man with eyes strikingly like Kurt's. The picture's very clearly from a wedding, and Jesse thinks with a kind of empathy he usually tries to avoid that Kurt must not have had time to map out his new home while at Dalton.

Nor have Tina and Brittany, apparently, as the girls join Kurt in poking around several hallways, before Brittany makes a strange squealing noise sounding rather like a dolphin, and begins to jump up and down excitedly.

"You kept the egg!" the blonde girl exclaims brightly, before dropping her red Cheerios duffle bag by a door and darting into the room. Kurt just chuckles quietly to himself, before following the girl into the room, carrying her bag inside during the process. Tina's right behind him, and Jesse takes the initiative to also follow suit – a decision that was _not _made just for the sake of avoiding being left in the hall.

The room appears to be Kurt's bedroom – it _must _be Kurt's bedroom, Jesse notes as he catches sight of a project board hanging up on the wall, covered in several swatches of fabric and paint chips. It's a nice room, Jesse realizes appreciatively as he turns in a full-circle and eyes the décor with his most critical eye. Dior Grey – one of his, maybe not _favorite _colors, but one of his _approved _colors.

"Yes, Britt – how could I get rid of it when I know how much you love it?" Kurt says fondly as he watches his cheerleader friend very nearly _throw _herself into an ovular chair in the corner of the room. An ovular chair that Jesse will admit _does _look fairly egg-like. "Finn? Puck's?" Kurt reminds, abruptly turning around from where he was running a sad finger over the table of what Jesse's almost certain is indeed a vanity to face the Frankenteen standing awkwardly, half in the hallway, half in the room.

Apparently startled back into consciousness, Finn blinks owlishly once, then twice, before replying, "He and Sam are doing something tonight…some stupid guitar thing or something." The statement is more a mumbled series of syllables than actual words, and Jesse has to give Kurt credit for the way that the countertenor seems to decode the statement with little effort.

Sighing, Kurt sets his bag next to the small loveseat his reasonably-sized room affords, and gives Finn a patient, but _so very close to the edge of sanity_, look very much reminiscent of the ones Jesse recalls Mister Schuester giving Finn on a regular basis. "Do you have a reason for hating Sam yet, or am I going to have to explain to you – _again _– that he is not: A) Out to get you; B) Out to get your job; C) A blonder, sexier clone of you sent from Mars to infiltrate typical American society in hopes of reproducing a la a combination of seahorses and praying mantises?"

Jesse doesn't know who this "Sam" person is (he _really _needs to check those forums again), but can't help feeling a sort of camaraderie with the unknown male. Jesse always has gone by the idea that the enemy of his enemy is his friend, anyway – when he wasn't too busy going by the idea that everyone is an enemy until their worthiness as a friend is established, and their weakness is exploited when convenient timing arises, that was.

And Sam most definitely seems like an enemy to Finn, who looks at his shoes in childlike shame before muttering, "No…except he's dating Quinn. So that's a reason, right? Didn't you hate Quinn and Rachel when they were dating me?" Finn points out, looking up excitedly in time to see Kurt drop his face to his awaiting palm in what Jesse takes to be a mixture of exasperation and mortification. Tina giggles as she jabs him lightly in the side, while Brittany attempts to get her bag from where it's at – six feet away – without moving from the egg chair.

Kurt sighs again, this time with less patience, before replying tersely, "I did _not _hate Quinn, and I hated Rachel for reasons entirely unrelated to you. Sam's always been a good guy – unlike Jesse," Kurt interjects, with what looks like a _wink _at him, "So your reasons for wanting to see him mauled are invalid. Why don't you hang out with Artie or something?"

"Because he's hanging out with Mike," Finn whines pitifully, as both of the girls in the room look up – Tina looking rather confused, and somehow a bit _wary_, and Brittany simply looking extremely cheerful about something. Brittany catches Jesse staring at her – he was trying to figure out how it was that she had apparently managed to get her foot stuck in the chair, despite the fact that it looked like an impossible situation – and eagerly waves him over.

He consents to her wordless request because he's a gentleman, and because she might as well be a host considering her familiarity with Kurt, and she pulls him down to whisper in his ear. "Artie's my boyfriend – I love him," she informs him with a sort of sincerity that seems somehow _pensive_, despite the fact that her tone is still that of a hopeless ditz. Jesse gives her a confused look, before thanking her quietly for sharing – she responds with a fond smile, and a brief kiss to his cheek that he doesn't wipe off (which he _thinks _is the cause of Kurt giving him a tender look) – and moving to sit next to Tina on Kurt's bed.

"Hey, why is _he _here, anyway?" Finn asks with a distrusting glint in his eye and a sullen frown on his lips as he points very rudely at Jesse – a gesture that almost results in a finger in Jesse's eye. Tina promptly swats Finn's hand away, and gives Finn a half-irritated look before taking Jesse's arm affectionately and dragging him over to a shelf filled with movies.

While Tina points out certain favorites of hers, and tells genuinely amusing anecdotes about several of them (anecdotes that are genuinely amusing to a surprising level, Jesse finds) Jesse lets himself _listen _to her completely, without the ulterior motive to eavesdrop – though he doesn't think it could be considered eavesdropping, anyway, since the conversation is being had at an even volume in the same room – on Kurt's and Finn's argument. Though most of it is drowned out by Tina's tale of "Sweeney Todd" ("Rachel made a bunch of us watch a bootleg of the London production _way _back when we were still Mister Ryerson's stool choir – Artie will never admit it, but he was _terrified_, and I think he's still actually nervous about shaving"), Jesse does happen to catch one particular statement that brings a smug – and strangely _grateful _- smile to his face.

"I _know _what he did last year, Finn. Do _you _know what Puck did last year? And what about you? You watched me get thrown in the dumpster _every day, _you almost _slushied me _- by the way, that hat was absolutely _ruined _– and you abandoned Glee Club when we really needed you, _twice_. So _please_, forgive me for thinking that it's fair to give Jesse a second chance at the sign of personal growth."

As Finn gawks and looks even more like he's about to cry, Tina stifles an inappropriately timed laugh, and Brittany nods solemnly, Jesse finds his eyes drawn repeatedly to Kurt. He mentally assures himself that it's in wonder of the fact that Kurt's position on the loveseat, glowering up at Finn (who's now an actual giant in comparison to Kurt) looks _incredibly _menacing, despite the fact that _it shouldn't_. For whatever reason, however, his mind argues that logical point as the word _sexy _– a word that Jesse shouldn't even have in his vocabulary, since he knows much more eloquent words that convey the same meaning, on a much deeper level – continually tries to force itself to be verbalized.

A tense moment passes, and Kurt finally sighs heavily, before patting the cushion next to him. Finn takes the offered seat with his usual lack of grace, and goes so far as to lean over and rest his head on Kurt's shoulder. In a very big-brotherly manner, Kurt wraps an awkwardly-positioned arm around Finn's much broader shoulders, and lays his own head against Finn's.

"I'm sorry," Jesse hears him murmur, while Tina hastily tries to change the subject back to movies, and asks Brittany and Jesse for their opinions on which of the Cameron films from Kurt's collection they should watch tonight. Jesse doesn't waste a moment of unnecessary thinking time before replying with the obvious choice of _Titanic _– he ends up using that moment of saved thinking time to wonder why Kurt owns a collector's edition of _Avatar – _and quickly turns his attention back to the sight of fraternal bonding across the room.

"But what danger can he be?" Kurt whispers as he threads his fingers through Finn's short, dark tresses soothingly. "Even if it's another glee club sabotage plot, I don't know anything about your set list, and knowing the Warblers' won't do any good. I doubt we'll make it past you guys at Regionals," the countertenor notes teasingly, though with a hint of sorrowful resignation.

Finn smiles a little, and replies almost intelligently, "Rachel said we're supposed to be careful of mind tricks – how do I know that you're not just saying that so we'll let our guard down?"

The Frankenteen's stepbrother grins mischievously, and pecks the taller boy's forehead briefly before intoning, "I don't know – how _do _you know?"

Finn takes the joke very seriously, and abruptly sits up to better turn and gape at his competition. Said competition never lets his grin falter – in a very good move of deflection – and just turns towards Jesse and the girls, before asking nonchalantly, "What are we watching tonight, babes?"

While Finn splutters a demand for an answer to his question, Jesse tries hard not to notice the strange tightening sensation he felt in his chest when he noticed the plural _babe__**s**_, directed in his general direction. Though he's of course well aware of the fact that Kurt was most likely referring to his darling girls, who proceed to bound over to him and settle in on his lap (Finn looks rather jealous for a moment as he observes the sight), he can't find it in himself to ignore the not-so-familiar emotion of _hopefulness_ that swelled in his chest.

It's on this train of thought that Jesse gets lost, until he becomes aware of the rest of the room having gone silent, and four pairs of eyes watching him in mild concern. Waving a dismissive hand and disregarding his temporarily catatonic state, he perches himself on the arm of the loveseat and inquires, "I'm sorry, what was it that you were saying?"

Kurt gives him a cautious look, before repeating, "We were saying that since Finn's sticking around –" Brittany grins, and nudges Finn's shoulder friendlily at his mention. "We should probably play Rock Band, instead of DDR."

"He's all limbs," Tina snickers, as Finn pulls what Jesse hopes is a mock-offended face, since if Finn's not aware of how horrible a dancer he really is, Jesse thinks he might have lost all hope in humanity.

Shrugging, Jesse drapes a casual arm over Kurt's shoulders in a way that he prays he's allowed to, and concedes, "Sounds fine enough to me. I think it's only fair to warn you, however, that my musical prowess does indeed transcend into video games, and I'm a bit of a badass at Rock Band." (It's the truth – Rachel had refused to play it with him anymore after an incident in which he happened to beat several of her high scores.)

Kurt and the girls laugh (while Kurt lets Jesse's arm stay around him; it's an encouraging sign, and Jesse appreciates the contact immensely), and even Finn manages to crack a smile, though it stays laced with his obvious distrust.

And ten minutes later, when they've all assembled in the living room, wearing various ensembles of sleepwear (Kurt's consisting of an oversized violet tee that constantly insists on slipping down his shoulder and revealing a breathtaking expanse of ivory skin, in addition to green flannel pants that hang past his feet and look suspiciously like something Finn would own), the five teenagers set about playing the loudest songs that the game has available in the catalogue. By Jesse's standards, it's rather insane – playing something _loud_, just because they _can_; screeching out notes just because it's _fun_ – but at the same time, he doesn't mind the insanity so much. Because while it started out _incredibly _nerve-wracking, being in the same room with Finn who wields sticks that could easily be used as weapons, after one song, it's really is _enjoyable_.

_**xoxox**_

Sometime late at night, after Finn's dropped off to sleep in a recliner, Tina's soft snores have begun to fill the room, and Brittany's hands have gone lax in Jesse's hair, Jesse finds himself thinking that he could learn to love this sort of arrangement – an arrangement with _friends_.

It's that desire to make these acquaintances his friends that pushes Jesse to speak up into the dark room, hoping that Kurt's not the type to get irrationally irritated when tired.

"I'm sorry that I called her a daft bimbo," Jesse murmurs thoughtfully as he glances up to gaze at Brittany's very angelic, and very peaceful looking countenance. "For as painful as it is for me to admit something like this to _you_ of all people," he begins, to which Kurt snorts in a way that says he's not the irrationally irritable type, and in a way that also really _shouldn't _be as adorable as Jesse finds it to be. "- you were right when you said it was just that she's not smart in the way that other people use the word. To be able to dance like she can, you have to have a lot of dedication and resolve, not to mention the incredible memory she must have."

Kurt doesn't say anything for a moment, and Jesse looks across the room at where the brunette is sitting in an armchair, Tina curled up lovingly against him. Kurt's smiling tenderly as he strokes the side of Tina's purple-framed face with his thumb, and when he responds, it's a single word whispered in agreement. "Yeah."

Rolling onto his side, _carefully _so as to not wake up the female whose lap he's finding to be a very comfortable pillow, Jesse adds, "And Tina…I've truly misjudged her. She's so much more than just the shy girl obsessed with death. She's so…bubbly. It's more than a little disorienting, seeing her dressed in skull-covered pajama pants now that I know she cries at the end of _Titanic_."

Laughing breathily, Kurt nods slightly as he nestles further into the chair, and rests his forehead against Tina's. "She's a self-proclaimed effervescent person," he notes under his breath, obviously taking precautions to not wake his friend up. "Besides, everyone cries at the end of _Titanic _– except for you, but that's because you're a soulless automaton," the countertenor teases, catching Jesse's eyes for a moment and making the tenor wonder just _how _his eyes manage to look so _striking _in the dark.

"How long have you known them?" Jesse asks quietly, as he plays on one of his stranger urges and takes one of Brittany's hands into his own. They're soft, almost comparable to Kurt's – though not quite. She has very pretty, slender fingers, he notices, and her nail beds are incredibly well cared for. (Jesse St. James always has been one to appreciate proper care of one's cuticles.)

Kurt hesitates a moment, before answering, "I've known Brittany since the second grade…she used to let me pick out outfits for her Barbies at recess, when Quinn and Santana were more likely to shout about me having cooties. I've known Tina since the fifth grade, when Artie pushed us together – she was always kind of a loner; she liked black then as much as she does now, and the other girls didn't approve. I think Artie was hoping that if he introduced me to a girl, I'd stop showing _him _my crude clothing sketches, and I'd show her, instead." Jesse doesn't bother trying to restrain the soft laugh that comes from picturing Kurt doodling runway looks with crayons. Kurt patiently waits, with a slight smile on his lips, for Jesse to finish, before continuing.

"It didn't really work, in the way that she and I would gang up on him with both of our pictures, but I don't think he minded as much as he claimed to – he was more tolerant after he found out that Tina's a whiz at Mario, and after the two of them convinced me to learn," Kurt recounts, a longing smile on his face that very clearly expresses the wish for such days of innocence to return.

Jesse, for whatever reason, finds himself unable to look away from that pretty, small smile for what feels like forever – though he thinks it can't have been more than a minute. In all honesty, even _then _he doesn't manage to look away from the smile, so much as it is that it disappears as Kurt realizes that he was being watched in a manner that could easily be constituted as creepy.

But the younger boy doesn't seem to be particularly fazed by Jesse's staring, and just gives him a curious look. "What about you? Your childhood, I mean. If you can remember that far back," he adds with that same teasing inflection that Jesse thinks he could really come to get used to, given the opportunity.

It takes a moment for Jesse to come up with an answer for the question, and when he does, he regrets it as soon as it's out – except he can't seem to make the words _stop_, and he finally understands what Finn must go through on a regularly embarrassing basis. "I really can't. My parents travelled a lot even then, so I spent a lot of time with my grandparents – they had the kind of house where if you _breathed _on anything, it was a capital offense. It's not like I would have had other kids to invite over, though – you know me; I'm a standoffish guy. When given the choice between talent and friends, I'll always choose talent. It started at a young age."

Kurt gives Jesse a pitying sort of look, but at the same time, it's _not_. It's more like Kurt's _observing _Jesse, sadly, but it's not as intimidating as Jesse thinks it might have been in another situation.

"Does that apply to your love life, too?" Kurt asks timidly. "You don't have to answer," he assures hastily, as Jesse senses a blush on the boy's face. "I'm just…curious. I've always thought that you cared about Rachel, but it obviously wasn't enough to overcome your responsibilities to Vocal Adrenaline."

Jesse's been hoping throughout this whole _ordeal _– whatever it could be called – that no one would bring up Rachel in an unavoidable way, but now, he doesn't mind so much. He hesitates for only a moment, before answering in an uncharacteristically hoarse voice. "It applies to everything. I loved Rachel, but winning comes first. I comfort myself by thinking that she understands why I did what I did; she and I were a lot more similar than she thought, in terms of personality and dedication to success."

There's a pregnant pause as Jesse waits for Kurt to answer, and hopes that the countertenor accepts his answer and doesn't decide to kick him out of the house at whatever-late-hour-it-is o'clock.

When the pause ends, it ends with a giggle, and Jesse almost makes the mistake of shooting upright (which could have ended disastrously for Brittany's nose). Thankfully, his instincts are tamed and he remains lying down, though he _does _make a point of angling a shocked look at the boy with the audacity to _laugh at him_ when he's sincerely put effort into baring his soul.

"Can I ask what's so funny?" he settles for saying icily.

Kurt just laughs in response, and only manages to calm himself when Tina shifts in his lap, and stretches an arm out over his chest. "You and Rachel – you're not _similar_, you're _clones_," he explains in amusement, as Jesse begins to think that it might be the sleep deprivation getting to the other teenager. "She said almost the exact same thing to me a few months ago – that she and I are more similar than I thought, I mean. It's a wonder your relationship handled all of that ego."

Instead of being offended, Jesse lets himself smile lightly, before inquiring, "Fine. My self-absorption aside, what about your love life? You're at Dalton now, aren't you? So surely there has to be _one _homosexual that can handle your bitchiness."

He immediately regrets the question when Kurt goes abruptly silent, and the awkwardness in the room becomes tangible. Just as he opens his mouth to apologetically retract his inappropriately-close question, or to at least add that an answer isn't required, however, Kurt answers in a barely-audible way that's very unlike the loud, flamboyant, self-assured Kurt that Jesse knows.

"I have feelings. He doesn't. We talked about it, and decided that staying friends is the best way to go." From the way that his words shake ever so lightly, Jesse can tell that it wasn't Kurt who did a majority of the talking, nor the deciding, and he almost feels the need to apologize on behalf of whatever douchebag "friend" Kurt has.

Kurt seems to sense these thoughts, and sharply adds the warning of, "And I swear to Prada, if you start going soft on me and want to express your condolences, you can just stop that right here. Everyone always seems to think I'm so delicate – _but I'm not_. I'm perfectly capable of handling rejection, and I don't want sympathy."

The surge of attraction that Jesse feels towards Kurt as the male very firmly states his strength is not only ill-timed, but it's also ill-placed, considering that he's going to be spending the night in said male's home, and is beginning to sincerely contemplate ravishing him. With a quick prayer to _whomever _that Kurt couldn't sense those particularly inappropriate thoughts, Jesse sharply utters a dismissive, "I wouldn't dream of giving it," before shutting his eyes tight and hissing an unexhausted-sounding, "Good night."

He thinks that he hears Kurt giggle again before the countertenor's voice murmurs a soothing, "Good night, Jesse," (which Jesse could picture himself _very easily _getting used to), but convinces himself it was just his imagination. Because he _is _Jesse St. James; it's not like he's going to let someone like _Kurt Hummel _get an upper-hand on him.

_**xoxox**_

**AN: **This was written pre-Comeback, and I couldn't figure out how to make what I had written fit with the canon after BIOTA, so, uh, just screw the canon Hudmel home, I guess? /I'm just that lazy.

**AN (2): **So, I've decided to continue this, because I'm really having fun with it (I never realized how entertaining JsJ is to try and write), and because I love all of you who reviewed the first part. All five of you. :,D

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.


	3. Chapter 3

Jesse's not what anyone would call a "wild college man." He makes sure to be in his bed by 11:30, class work permitting, and never drinks himself into a stupor that would result in him passing out on a random stranger's floor, surrounded by other completely sloshed and equally sanitation-deprived strangers.

So naturally, when he wakes up with his neck feeling stiff and in an uncomfortable position, in an unknown place, his first instinct is to panic. No, not _panic _– to express his concerns for his safety and his wellbeing through a series of frantic motions that could look like a cause for worry to anyone unfamiliar without knowledge of his habits. (Because Jesse St. James does _not _lose his cool, thus, he does not _panic_.)

In this case, his frantic motions include springing off of the sofa he's woken up on, away from the warm body he's woken up against, and towards an end table on which is resting a very tempting looking phone.

When his motions seem to wake up the warm body, however, he suddenly remembers where he is, and relaxes. Leaning against the wall next to the large television he caught Finn looking at _very _lovingly last night, Jesse gives the dazed-looking blonde girl an apologetic smile, before whispering, "Good morning, Brittany."

Brittany squints at him uncertainly for a moment, and Jesse assumes that she's also trying to remember where she is, and why he's there. When she seems to recall, she gives him a sleepy smile of her own, before stretching her legs out from under her sluggishly. "I thought you were my cat," she says, apparently by way of explanation for her scrutinizing. Rather than attempting to tell her that her "explanation" requires elaboration on its own, Jesse decides to simply continue smiling, and survey the rest of the room.

Finn's still sprawled out in the recliner, Jesse notices, but Tina and Kurt are both nowhere to be found. After a moment of brief concern – _very brief; _it is Kurt's house, after all, and he has no reason to worry about the chestnut-haired boy's safety in his own home – Tina enters the room from the hallway, and gives Jesse and Brittany lazy waves. "Morning Jesse, morning Britt," she greets pleasantly, to which Jesse nods, and Brittany gives a response of, "Is Charity here?"

As Tina plops down on the sofa next to Brittany, and pats the girl's knee affectionately while she begins telling the cheerleader that "Charity's at your house – she still can't drive, Britt. She's _just _a cat, remember?" Jesse wanders down the hallway and pokes his head into what proves to be the kitchen. Inside the kitchen, he finds a sight that he's shameless enough to admit he appreciates.

Kurt's standing at the stove, humming to himself under his breath and shaking his hips unfairly attractively while wearing a ridiculously pink and frilled Kiss the Cook apron. Under other circumstances, Jesse wouldn't hesitate to tell Kurt just how ridiculous said pink and frilled Kiss the Cook apron is, but in this particular situation, he elects not to. Instead, he leans against the doorframe and watches Kurt bustle about for a few minutes, trying to ignore the way that seeing Kurt looking so domestic warms his heart and makes him think that someday, he might _want _a family (as opposed to just a very successful career and a hearty social life with other equally successful starlets), if it means he could have someone like Kurt (if not Kurt himself) willing to raise that family with him.

When Kurt begins to sing, however, and his slightly-familiar tune is revealed to be none other than the Shakira dance hit of 2006, "Hips Don't Lie," Jesse can't help but break down into near-hysteric laughter that he hasn't experienced since…

He doesn't actually _know _how long it's been since he's broken down into near-hysteric laughter, but doesn't dwell on the semi-depressing thought as he doubles over, and becomes distantly aware of Kurt shouting something in mortification and rage.

By the time he manages to catch his breath, and he's wiped the streams of tears from his eyes well enough to again see without drolly-blurred vision, Kurt's humiliated fury seems to have fizzled to a simple stream of irritated mutterings and a scarlet blush painting his visage from the barely-visible collarbone to the tips of his ears. With Kurt's glowering daring him to comment on the performance Jesse's had the good fortune to witness, the older male holds up his hands in defeat when he rights himself, and utters an unconvincingly nonchalant, "I haven't heard that song in a while."

Kurt rolls his eyes, and turns back to the stove where it looks like he's making bacon (for Finn, Jesse assumes). He doesn't turn quickly enough to keep Jesse from catching the smile that's ghosted over his elfin features, however, and Jesse steps into the kitchen with more confidence now that he's a very respectable eighty-five percent certain that Kurt won't violently murder him with whatever available kitchen utensils he has.

"Good morning to you, too," Kurt remarks sullenly as he removes the bacon from his pan, and turns his attentions to shapeless puddles of batter that Jesse hopes are going to turn into pancakes in the near future. "Blueberries or chocolate chips? Or I have dried cherries, too, if you want them."

Pancakes indeed, though Jesse half-doubts that the barely-round blobs can turn into anything edible in the near future. "You were asking for it, Hummel. Her catchy Latin beats may be addictive and demand the inclusion of vigorous hip rotations, but you should have suspected that my internal clock is very specifically trained to keep me from unhealthily sleeping in excess, and should have thusly taken that into account," Jesse retorts brightly as he takes a seat at the counter, next to Kurt. "Blueberries, thanks," he adds as an afterthought, at Kurt's expectantly-raised eyebrow.

Nodding, Kurt proceeds to pour – or, as it more appropriately looks, spill – some more batter onto the large rectangular pan before him in several splotches, while dotting each with a small handful of the unsuitably named violet berries selected. "That may be so," Kurt concedes slowly, the smallest tip of a pink tongue poking out of his mouth as he focuses intently on prodding a darkly-spotted pancake-like creation. "But that doesn't change the fact that you laughed at me, even after I've invited you into my home. Your laugh's not cute enough to get away with it."

Jesse thinks that he has to give Kurt credit on his delivery of the line, as, if not for the faint blush that's returned to the boy's countenance, Jesse might have believed that it was a completely offhanded observation. Unfortunately for his host, Jesse _does _notice the blush, and he makes a point of catching Kurt's nervous eyes to offer a knowing smirk in response. Kurt blushes more fiercely, before not-so-accidentally hitting Jesse in the shoulder with his elbow. "I'm going to deny I said that," the boy mutters under his breath as he meticulously plates no less than four pancakes (Jesse now sees that the dark spots are chocolate chips, and fears less for the safeness of eating what Kurt's set about making) on what could easily be a small serving platter, already filled with about half a pig of bacon and half a dozen other pancakes.

"Finn's," he surmises aloud with a slight grimace. Kurt nods, and within a matter of three seconds, the tall boy in question is in the doorway, his nose in the air unattractively as he takes on a very excited-puppy-esque look to him. Jesse can't honestly say that he's surprised to see Finn so alert, even though logic dictates that he could only woken up within the past six minutes or so. If there was going to be one thing that would wake up the tall male entirely, Jesse would have put money on it being food, and very clearly would have won a large payoff.

"Dude, you made _bacon_?" the Frankenteen says happily, bounding over to where Kurt's extending the plate to his stepbrother, nose wrinkled adorably to complement his apparent hatred of all things salty, fatty, and generally bad for the body.

Kurt takes a moment to close his eyes, and inhale deeply in a sort of calming way. Smiling in a vague amusement, and simultaneous wistfulness at the awkward, but fitting dynamic that the two new brothers have (and that Jesse's never known, due to his own lack of siblings), Jesse interjects helpfully, "Last time I checked, his name was Kurt Elizabeth Hummel – not _dude_."

While Finn and Kurt roll their eyes in perfect sync, and Finn grumbles a submissive and half-chewed bacon-filled reply of, "So I keep hearing. Thanks, _Kurt_," Jesse can't help himself but to grin at the easy way the two boys have apparently learned to live with one another, and have already started to taken on each other's slight mannerisms. (He, despite leading Kurt to believe otherwise, did _not _miss the way that the lithe-formed countertenor snuck a bite of bacon.)

As Jesse distantly wonders whether such is because of their living together, or if it's because the two are sincere _friends_ by some strange set of circumstances, Kurt gives a small chuckle, and waves over his shoulder before turning back to the rest of his plating. "You're welcome, Finn Hudson. Go tell Britt and Tee that theirs are ready – and try not to make an unmanageable mess; Artie might be stopping by later. It sounded like he was going to have a heart attack when he heard that someone beat his high score on "Born to Be Wild" on Rock Band," comes the warning, to which Jesse smiles smugly, and Finn seems to snort while lumbering back to the den.

Not a moment later, the formerly-drowsy females come barreling into the kitchen, narrowly missing Jesse's face with their hands as they throw their arms around Kurt's shoulders and waist lovingly. "Your pancakes are my favorite thing ever," Tina declares with an almost unnerving kind of sincerity as Jesse gives the dough-blobs a wary look.

Brittany nods emphatically, and nestles her face into the crook of Kurt's neck tenderly. "I miss your every-other-Tuesday-except-for-when-the-date-matches-the-year peanut butter cookies," she adds solemnly. The room seems to go unnaturally still for a moment, before Kurt presses a light kiss to Brittany's forehead, then Tina's.

"We can always change them," Kurt insists with a kind smile as he pries both girls' suddenly-tighter embraces off of him, and hands them their plates. (Both girls having chosen blue/purple-berry, Jesse notices curiously.) "What about every-other Friday night? I'll even share my secret recipe," he adds enticingly, as Brittany's eyes begin to sparkle with an innocent excitement.

The blonde nods and submits, "Okay. But can I write the secret recipe down or something? Recipes are like, really hard." Jesse tries to look unaffected by the similarity that apparently exists between his own and Brittany's mentalities – he also finds recipes to be rather disorienting, and generally regards them to be unnecessary pieces of information that could easily be dismissed through help of a good takeout number – and focuses on Kurt's hands as they handle a spatula, and move three pancakes (that do look _somewhat _pancake-like) onto the plate in front of Jesse.

They really are striking hands – slim, and pale, and very soft, as he knows from brief accidental experiences. Jesse thinks they're hands he could almost be jealous of, if he weren't so satisfied with them being _Kurt's_ hands. (It adds to their charm, he admits to himself as he angles his head upwards to watch the ceiling in feigned detachment, which seems to fail as he feels Kurt's gaze falling on him curiously.)

Tina gently suggests, "Why don't I help you practice during the week? We'll make flash cards," to which Brittany nods again (the sound of her lightly-curled hair, pulled back into twin pigtails by Kurt the night prior, bouncing is an interesting noise), and a look at Kurt's face reveals that he's smiling again, a little sadly.

"Except we can't have them on Fridays when the date matches the month," Brittany points out seriously, to which Tina and Kurt nod in unison. Jesse reasons that his face must express the absolute failure he's encountering while trying to follow Brittany's logic, considering that Tina gives him a sideways wink, and Kurt's resting an empathetic hand on his shoulder, but chooses not to worry about his obvious obliviousness. Kurt's hand _is _on his shoulder, and even through the (admittedly thin) fabric of the black t-shirt Kurt had berated as his sleepwear (citing the fashion rule that: "A person's sleepwear shouldn't be something that they could mistake for their daywear – _it's just wrong, St. James_."), he can feel that softness of the flesh, and the warmth that Kurt naturally seems to emanate.

Kurt murmurs an agreement of, "Of course we can't," Tina gives a firm, "Never," and Jesse adds a hasty "Absolutely not," at Brittany's prompting looking, before the cheerleader smiles in some kind of relief before pecking Kurt on the cheek and again pointing out her love of Kurt's cooking. Tina follows suit, and the girls return to the den no worse for wear.

Instead of asking about Brittany's apparent superstitions, Jesse just picks up his plate and follows the girls towards the hallway. Kurt chuckles as he lags behind, apparently to remove the atrocity that is his apron, and notes something that sounds suspiciously like, "He's learning," under his breath.

_**xoxox**_

By the time a clock in the hallway strikes noontime (Jesse assumes that Kurt had a heavy hand in the decorating of the home, judging by how everything has that tastefully ornate look to it that Kurt masters so well), Jesse's starting to get the impression that Finn doesn't entirely hate him. Now that they're both past their Rachel Berry confrontations, and they're being forced to sit down with one another and not attempt to kill one another, it actually appears like they have a few similar interests.

Not many, of course – a few, in this particular case, means _two_ – because Jesse's a thousand times more refined than Finn is, and it's hard to find common ground when that's the case, but it's at least a start. It's a start that Kurt seems to appreciate, considering that Jesse's no longer on edge with the fear that Finn will come up behind him at any time and clobber him because of some misplaced rage.

It's only when Jesse and Finn are in the middle of a rousing conversation about their second of two similar interests (some faceless _Blaine _person that Jesse gets the feeling is the "just a friend" of Kurt's, and how that faceless _Blaine _person doesn't seem entirely trustworthy), and Kurt gets up to answer the door, that Jesse returns to that edge of his. Because when Kurt returns to the den, he's trailing ten other teenagers with whom Jesse is very familiar with, and all of whom look particularly hungry for blood.

Whereas Brittany and Finn wave pleasantly to the other New Directions (including a blonde boy and a dark-haired girl that Jesse doesn't recognize), Kurt and Tina take the opportunity to exchange a worried glance, while Jesse stands uncomfortably and not-so-subtly makes his way towards where Kurt's squeezed into the doorway.

"The hell is he doing here? This is the same douche that _egged _Rachel last year, remember Hummel?" Noah Puckerman says with a menacing glare. Jesse distantly makes the mental note to chalk up a point for himself later, as it does indeed seem that _douche_ is a term Kurt's integrated into his vocabulary through Puckerman's influence, but pays more of his attentions to the fact that Mercedes Jones is looking at him with a mixture of a _complete and total loathing _and a _wary resignation to trust him_.

Frowning abruptly, Kurt takes Jesse by the hand – the heat that Jesse feels climbing up his face most certainly _isn't _a blush, he's positive, even if Quinn Fabray's raised eyebrow could be considered a semi-reliable indication of the fact that it _is _– and leads him back to the sofa, where Jesse promptly hides between Tina and Finn. Kurt proceeds to settle onto his lap, which, he admits to himself in embarrassment, _does _make him blush a very hearty hue.

"He's _here_ because I invited him to be," Kurt says icily, his tone challenging for even _Puck _to argue with him. "We've recently struck up a cordial acquaintanceship, and he was in town for the weekend. It was the respectable thing to do."

Under other circumstances, Jesse would have expected for Rachel to be the first to let in with a lecture on how being respectable doesn't apply to people like Jesse. This situation, however, is complicated by the fact that it is _Jesse_ that they're talking about, and Jesse has always made things more difficult for Rachel. So when she doesn't say anything, and instead bites her lip in an apparent physical restraint to keep herself from blurting something out that she knows she'll regret, Jesse isn't surprised. (Though he takes no pride in her silence, out of an upright sense of remorse.)

"And besides, he's at UCLA now –" Tina begins to point out, only to be interrupted by Brittany, who raises her hand and helpfully interjects that UCLA is indeed in LA. Her statement brings a slightly fond smile to the face of Santana Lopez, and a concerned, but tender look to Artie Abrams', before Tina finishes her thought. "So he's not even _in _a Glee Club, anymore. What does sabotaging ours do? He won three years in a row, and Ms. Corcoran isn't there anymore, so…"

The Asian girl's voice dwindles to silence as nervous looks are shot at Rachel. Kurt looks apologetic as he seems to admire the beauty of his hand intertwined with Jesse's, and Jesse can't help but feel yet another rush of fondness (the type that's gradually becoming less and less unnerving) as he watches the boy's features contort contritely. Though he'd had his suspicions about Kurt and Rachel having become close, and he'd heard a few statements that suggested his suspicions were true, to see physical proof of it is cute, in its own royally fucked up way. (She _is _his ex-girlfriend, and he _may or may not be _the male he _might _currently be _mildly _interested in.)

Kurt stretches out his free arm invitingly, and without needing a word to specify who the invitation is _for_, Rachel promptly joins the others on the couch and perches lightly (and surprisingly considerately) on Kurt's knees. Jesse tries not to think about how _incredibly insane _this whole situation is (he's sitting in Kurt Hummel's and Finn Hudson's living room, with Kurt on his lap, and Rachel Berry in _his_, while the rest of the New Directions – even Matt, whose existence he had barely noticed in the prior year – begin to drape themselves casually over the furniture), and sets about memorizing Kurt's natural, un-perfumed scent.

It's more masculine than he would have guessed; Kurt's not at all flowery, or sweet smelling. Jesse's unsure how to accurately describe it without using the vocabulary words that keep trying to escape from the confines of his very carefully guarded voice box ("delectable" is not an appropriate word to use about someone who hasn't been a _friend _for more than eighteen hours, he finds himself having to remind his mind), but settles for _natural_.

_Natural _like everything else seems to be, as he observes the juxtaposition of each of the glee club members, who all just _drop _into place next to (and _on_) one another like it's something they do every day. Jesse actually rather thinks that it's something they really _do _do every day, and he momentarily regrets what he did last year to these people as he realizes that _he could have been this easy with them, too_.

But then it seems like _he might still have a chance_, because Mike Chang speaks up from where he's nestled between Matt and Unknown Girl (Lauren Zizes; a recent addition to the club) on the floor, and says, "If Tina trusts him, I do. What's the worst he can do, anyway?" (Jesse doubts the sincerity of Mike's kindness when he catches Tina giving him a tender smile, and sees the way that the Asian boy brightens at the sight of it, but he doesn't question it. He'd rather have reluctant half-trust spawned from a desire to get in one's girlfriend's good graces, than no trust at all.)

And gradually, the others start to mumble their half-hearted agreements, and their firm conditions for how Jesse must conduct himself to win them over. (Matt's, surprisingly enough, is the loudest as he states very simply that Jesse is to not "be a conceited a-hole.")

It's not a complete victory, but in this case, Jesse's okay with a partial one. Because he's very prepared to keep at it until he _can _call it a complete victory.

_**xoxox**_

**AN: **Why yes, I am under the impression that Matt totes comes back down to Lima on weekends to chill with Mike. Because that's the way it works with epic bromances like theirs.

**AN (2): **AWESOME. Doubled the number of reviewers last time around. That's bitchin, BBs. BD

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.


End file.
